Walking Away
by ElectroPrincess
Summary: Have things reached the point of no return between Howard and Vince? Just a little one shot I've had swimming around in my brain for a while.


**Authors note: ****Hey, I have been around for a while now reading the awesome stories that everyone has produced and I thought it was about time I unleashed some of the ideas that have been floating around in my brain. Hope you enjoy.**

**Disclaimer:**** Everything Mighty Boosh belongs to the amazing Noel Fielding and the genius Julian Barrett, I just like to play with them. Song is When You're Gone by Avril Lavigne.**

The door slammed so hard that it caused everything in the flat to shake, which was quite a feat considering the door in question was a floor below the flat. Howard barely noticed any more though, even when his mug of tea fell off the table and landed on his foot, this was such a regular occurrence in his life.

He wasn't sure what had started it this time, it might have been him asking Vince to pick up the clothes he had left strewn around the living room from the last time he had been trying to find the perfect outfit to impress his shallow mates or it could just have been Vince taking offence to him asking if he was planning on helping out in the shop that day. It didn't take much to start the screaming and the storming out these days.

Howard sat completely still on the kitchen chair thinking about Vince and how much things between them had changed. Once upon a time they had been the best of friends, nothing could come between them. They had spent all their time together, working in the Zooniverse during the day and snuggled up in their zookeeper's hut at night. Both of them had flats to go back to but they had both chosen to spend their nights in the tiny cramped hut, telling each other that they needed to be there in case there was a problem with any of the animals. This was plausible in Vince's case considering he could actually talk to the animals but deep down they both knew it was just an excuse to spend more time with each other.

Slowly things had started to go wrong though. After they left the zoo Vince seemed to lose his naivety and his sweet nature that Howard had so loved in him. It seemed like the more time they spent away from that place the more Vince had changed into some unrecognisable scene kid. Only interested in popularity and drinking himself into an oblivion practically every night of the week. Howard didn't know what he saw in these new friends of his, they would drop him like last week's fashion if someone better and more fashionable came along. No sir, these were not the kind of people Howard Moon would choose to associate himself with.

The more Howard sat and thought about how much Vince had changed the angrier he got, not just with Vince for acting like a prize tit but with himself for putting up with it for so long. Vince had played him for a fool, treating him with such contempt and still expecting Howard to be there for him when he needed him. Like at his birthday last year, Vince had completely hijacked the celebrations turning all the attention onto him but then still expecting Howard to come to his rescue when the head shaman had been out to get him.

Howard tried to stop that train of thought right there, but his disobedient brain brought forth the image of Vince kissing him. Howard felt himself blush even though there was no one around and even if they were, they wouldn't know what was happening inside his head. The kiss was something he tried hard not to think about but it was in his head most of the time now. He knew that it was wrong and that Vince would never mean it but Howard knew that his heart had been lost to his friend forever that night.

This made Howard even angrier, how could Vince not realise? How could he carry on acting the way he did, going out every night and coming home with a different person each time? Although Howard took some comfort that they never lasted more than the night, in fact most of them had already left by the time he awoke in the morning. The only way he knew about any of them at all was the fact that he waited up every night without fail until Vince stumbled in. Not that Vince knew or cared about this fact, he pretty much forgot about Howard these days it seemed. But Howard couldn't do the same, he worried about the younger man even though he had proved to be capable of looking after himself. Howard could never settle until he knew Vince was safely back in the flat.

Howard looked down at his arm, when his brain started to register pain. He realised that he had been giving himself a Chinese burn, something that only happened when he thought about Vince and the way that the younger man treated him. He stopped his hand from moving and took in the sore, red skin on his arm. Seeing what he was reduced to Howard came to a decision.

He got up from the chair, ignoring the broken pieces of mug and the tea stain that was spreading further across the floor and made his way into the bedroom he shared with his former friend.

Howard quickly gathered together the few belongings in the room that were his and shoved them into a single suitcase. This was a sure sign that he was really upset and angry as Howard was never an untidy person and normally every item of clothing would have been carefully folded and packed in order of colour.

On the way out of the bedroom he stopped and had a last look around at the world that he had shared with his best friend for so long. There were more of Vince's clothes strewn around on his side of the room and make-up and hair products littered the dressing table that Vince had insisted on fitting into the small room. A slight smile found its way onto Howard's face as he thought about all the time he had spent watching the other man preen himself in front of that mirror. Howard used to make comments about Vince's inability to leave the bedroom without at least an hour in front of the mirror but secretly he had found it quite endearing.

Howard shook these thoughts from his brain and made his way out of the flat and out of Vince's life forever. He did consider stopping to write a note but he figured that none of the occupants of the flat would really care or even notice if he was gone. Naboo and Bollo had both made it clear time and again that they both held an intense dislike for him and only put up with his presence for Vince's sake. And as for Vince he had obviously moved on from Howard and no longer cared whether he was around or not.

Howard made his way down the stairs and into the shop that he had worked in side by side with Vince for the past year or so. He stopped once more as memories assaulted him. This time they were not so good, Vince writing that awful graffiti on the shutters about him, Vince showing off in front of his new punk friends and biting a chunk out of Howard's extremely rare Jazz album. The list went on and on. Howard felt his heart breaking once more and slid down the counter until he was crouched in a ball on the floor tears streaming down his face.

He had no idea how long he had stayed there trapped in his own pain and misery, sobs racking his frame and tears soaking into his shirt until gradually he became aware of the song that was playing on the radio that someone had thoughtlessly left playing in the empty shop.

_I always needed time on my own_

_I never thought I would need you there when I cried_

_And the days feel like years when I'm alone_

_And the bed where you lie is made up on your side_

The lyrics started to register in Howard's brain even though it was nothing like the kind of music he would normally listen to, it was almost as if the singer was looking straight at him and singing about his life.

_When you walk away I count the steps that you take_

_Do you see how much I need you right now?_

How could this girl know so much about his situation?

_When you're gone the pieces of my heart are missing you_

_When you're gone the face I came to know is missing too_

_When you're gone the words I need to hear_

_To always get me through the day_

_And make it ok_

_I miss you_

Howard realised that was the real problem, he missed Vince. Not the Vince that everyone else saw but the real Vince that has become buried underneath this need to be popular.

_I've never felt this way before_

_Everything that I do, reminds me of you_

_And the clothes you left, they lie on the floor_

_And they smell just like you, I love the things that you do_

Actually Howard realised it was more than that, he loved Vince. All of the stupid things that he did and the whirlwind of chaos that seemed to surround him.

_We were made for each other _

_Out here forever_

_I know we were_

_Yeah yeah_

Howard was now convinced that this girl was somehow inside his head and singing his feelings for everyone to hear. If there had actually been anyone around to hear her other than him that was.

_All I ever wanted was for you to know_

_Everything I do I give my heart and soul_

_I can hardly breathe I need to feel you here with me_

Howard was so lost in trying to figure out how this girl had got into his head and found all of his feelings for Vince that he failed to hear the younger man re-enter the shop.

The next thing that he was aware of was a pair of arms wrapping themselves around his neck and Vince's voice whispering in his ear, the warm breath tickling his face.

"Hey, hey it's gonna be ok" Vince whispered gently stroking Howard's neck and shoulders. Howard was so stunned by this expected friendliness that he completely forgot about his no touching rule.

"I'm so sorry Howard; I've been such a tit. I don't deserve your forgiveness but I hope you will give it to me anyway." Vince looked so sincere that Howard was left speechless for a few moments.

"What has brought this on little man?" Howard couldn't help it, the term of affection has slipped out without him even thinking about it. "I thought you hated me and didn't need me anymore? You seem to have outgrown our friendship."

Vince had the decency to blush and looked Howard in the eye for a few seconds before speaking again. "I don't know what happened Howard, ever since we left the Zooniverse I have just felt so strange and lost. I didn't know how to fit into this world, everything that I tried seemed to make things worse between us, and I... and I. . . IloveyouandInoyoudon'tloveme." The last few words had come out in such a rush that it took Howard a second or two to work out what had been said.

Vince had spent those few seconds staring at the floor so Howard gently lifted his chin so that they were looking into one another's eyes before he spoke again. "Is that why you did all of those things? To try and stop me realising the truth?"

Vince merely nodded his head at this as if he didn't trust his own voice.

"Little man, you should have just told me, I know it is hard to say these things but I feel the same way. I always have done. Why do you think I put up with so much from you? I love you." With that he bent his head done and gently placed his lips against those of the man he had always loved and would always love.

Vince gently broke away from the kiss and looked Howard square in the eye "I love you too, but I have to ask were you listening to Avril Lavigne when I walked in? Cause if you were we may have to break up before we have ever really got together."

Howard laughed at this and captured his lover's lips in a slightly less gentle kiss this time.

**Sorry to any Avril fans out there. (I'm not a big fan but someone once bought me the album thinking I would be into it and this song just seemed to fit.)**

**Hope you all enjoyed that.**


End file.
